Republicans
and Democrats Hold Positive Views of Israelis but Differ Greatly on their
Government

By Josefin
Dolsten

JTA

April 24, 2019

Republicans
and Democrats may hold widely disparate views of Israel’s government, a new
survey found, but both have positive vibes about Israelis.

The
Pew Research Center study, released Wednesday, found that while 61 percent
of Republicans had a favorable view of Israel’s government — led by Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the right-wing Likud party — that number is
only 26 percent for Democrats.

Asked
about views of Israeli people, most respondents regardless of party affiliation
held positive views — 77 percent of those identifying as or leaning Republican
and 57 percent of those identifying as or leaning Democrat.

Older
people were more likely to have a positive view of the Netanyahu government: 57
percent of respondents 65 and older held a positive view, the only age group in
which a majority did so. The proportion decreased with each age group, with 27
percent of those aged 18-29 having a positive view.

As
for views of the Palestinian government, a majority of respondents identifying
with both parties held negative views — 81 percent for Republicans and 65
percent for Democrats. Asked about their opinions on the Palestinian people, 32
percent of Republicans and 58 percent of Democrats said they viewed them
favorably.

The
survey, which was conducted April 1-15, had 10,523 respondents and a margin of
error of plus or minus 1.5 percent.

In
past years, Pew has asked respondents whether they sympathized more with Israel
or the Palestinians. This year, the research center decided to reframe the
question to reflect the fact that many respondents favored both sides or
neither.